Chronic Pelvic Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment

From the Reproductive Health Center: Endometriosis Corner
Trying to describe pain to someone is never easy. It's kind of like trying to describe the sound of a flute to someone who was born deaf. This can be particularly difficult when describing pelvic pain because it can be so hard to even know exactly where the pain is coming from. Thus, it's not surprising that a survey from the Endometriosis Association found a 10-year delay from the time women start experiencing symptoms until they receive a diagnosis.
That's a long time to live in pain.
Pelvic pain is inextricably linked to endometriosis--a medical condition in which tissue lining the uterus exists outside the uterus, where it grows and shrinks according to hormonal changes. An estimated 71 to 87 percent of women with chronic pelvic pain have endometriosis, which occurs in 7 to 10 percent of all women. And, contrary to what many health care professionals think, the condition can be quite common in adolescents and is often behind their chronic pelvic pain.
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